another old myspace blog: fillibusters

Orriginally posted Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Fillibusters

Right now, there is alot of talk of fillibuster - and on atrios and dailykos, talk of a right wing media bias in terms of reporting on "fillibusters." so let me set the records straight.

fillibuster is a technique used by a minority party in the senate to stop the majority party from passing a bill by making speeches on end. it opperates like this: because more than a simple majority of votes is needed to stop somebody from making a speech, opponents to a bill simply need to make speech after speech in order to stop a bill from coming toa vote. there is no fillibuster in the house of representatives.

fillibuster's can be stoped with a super majority vote of 60. when republicans were in the majority but lacked 60 votes, they threatened to change the rules to so they could stop a democratic fillibuster of judicial nominees with a simple majority. this became known as the nuclear option because it would destroy a long held minority right.

as a matter of convenience, a vote can be taken to see if there is enough support to defeat a fillibuster. when there are not enough votes to beat a fillibuster, and the minority party is threatening one, the debate and the vote usually gets tabled.

republicans have been threatening to fillibuster every measure the senate proposes with regards to the iraq war - essentialy ensuring a blank check is handed to bush to pursue his failed strategies without any oversight.

rather than change the rules and eviscorate minority rights (like the republicans wanted to do), the democrats have called for over night sessions. the media, including a widely watched network morning show, has labled this fillibustering on the part of democrats. this is untrue. it is the democrats challenging the republicans to actually deliver a fillibuster, rather than just threaten one.

personally, i hope reid and the senate democrats keep to it.